![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
serpentstar for the point).So, here's a question.
If you're a Metropolitan Police Officer who is under investigation for using excessive force during an arrest, what do you do?
A. Wait for the investigation to exhonerate you?
B. Quit before the result comes out and take up a career in private security?
C. Retire on medical grounds before the result comes out, accepting a medical pension from the Met and leaving the accusation of excessive force unanswered. Then apply to work as a civilian with the Met. Transfer from there to the Surrey police force as a police officer. Transfer back to the Met, then to the Tactical Support Group, at which point you push over a newspaper vendor during a protest, leading to accusations that you caused his death.
It's a quandry for the modern age, isn't it?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/0
- Mood:boggled
There's a lovely idea - take a GPS phone with video camera and a compass, then overlay the location and distance of your nearest tube station.
You're going to look a bit of a plonker standing by the side of the road, but still, it's a gorgeous concept.
Software out Real Soon Now.
I got stopped by the British Transport Police under the auspices of the Terrorism Act, and subjected to a search.
What was really interesting was that while the officer in question very politely made it clear that the search was not optional, he also stressed that I was under no obligation to provide them with my ID, or even my name unless I wanted to. When he patted me down and found my wallet, he didn't open it. He didn't even look at the envelope of a parcel I had in my bag.
That's a real step forward.
I guess it helps that my face fits; white, middle class, middle aged (*sob* ) and that I don't look 'weird' - no obvious piercings or tattoos. And I know how to talk to authority, and don't put their backs up as a matter of principle. But if it were a matter of the officer's discretion whether to ask for ID or not, I don't think he'd have phrased it the way he did. (Edit: Under the provisions of Sec.44 of the Terrorism Act, 2000, you don't have to give your name and address. However, I've seen videos of police on Youtube opening someone's wallet and taking their name and address from the contents. The officer searching me today made no effort to do anything like that.)
I don't have a particular problem with stop and search (if it's applied fairly) - but if nothing shows up then I shouldn't have to show ID.
I think that's a good balance; I'm very aware several people on here will disagree.
(oh, and the 'white powder' was the chalk I use for climbing. I thought I should mention it before he found it.)
Edit to add: Whoops - just wanted to point out that the link is totally safe for work.
Kevin zuckerman's recent talk on digital activism - a vey interesting read, looking at Iran and China - two relatively different approaches to censorship and how being overly censorious only educates your activists more. And pictures of cute cats.
Summary:
In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.
Interesting stuff from Jakob Nielsen as useful - though I really wish that
a) he'd join the 21st C. and get an RSS feed for his
b) he'd realise that good design is part of usability.
interesting article in the Guardian this morning - a team of US scientists have worked out how to harvest versitile stem cells from the placenta. And this can be done post-natally, so there's no chance of harm to either mother or child. It also doesn't require the use of embryo tissue, therefore dealing with the main objection of the Right To Life movement. Good news.
The O2 shop in the mall opens at 9.30.
The O2 shop in the mall is directly opposite the Carphone Warehouse shop.
Kudos to the manager of the Carphone Warehouse shop who opened his doors at 9.15am and shouted across to the queue of about 10 people outside O2 "We've got the new iPhone in stock too!"
Witness the queue disappearing.
https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/refu
And then you plug that data into Google Maps ...
What do you get?
http://www.dracos.co.uk/play/locating-p
A lovely website that enables you to put in the first part of a UK postcode and get a map showing you where the post boxes are there.
And in the best Web 2.0 way, if there's an unidentified postbox on the list, you can add it to the map yourself.
(I know, I know - who uses the post any more? But it's useful for those occasions where you might need to.)
Years ago, there used to be a book you could get which told you which carriage of the tube to stand in so that you'ld be nearest to the exit you needed for the station you were getting off at - for those who aren't used to the tube, this can literally save you 5 minutes or so at each station if the tube is crowded.
Now it's available as an iPhone / iPod Touch application for £1.79.
Today, they repaid that in spades, with this open letter to Nick Griffin, MEP and fascist.
http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/about-u
"On May 27th, 2009, the National Chairman of The Royal British Legion wrote to you privately requesting that you desist from wearing the Poppy or any other emblem that might be associated with the Legion at any of your public appearances during the European Parliamentary election campaign. </p>He appealed to your sense of honour. But you have responded by continuing to wear the poppy. So now we're no longer asking you privately.
Stop it, Mr Griffin. Just stop it."
In other, completely related news, some men* are complete and utter fuckwits and I despair.
*No one I know - just random fucktard on the bus.
- Mood:fuming
A friend had tickets, so we went, turning up at the studio on the South Bank and queuing for the best part of 2 hours to guarantee getting in. But queue beers and good company soon made the time pass. Once in, and suitably warmed up by the in house comedian, the show began.
The panalists were Jo Brand, Alan Davies, Rob Brydon and Jimmy Carr, so we were pretty sure we were in for a good night, though I have to say, I was most impressed with Rob Brydon - he's got a gentle, almost perplexed air about him which fitted well with the show. I thought Carr was trying just a little bit too hard. But they were all good.
What surprised me most was the fact that the show was filmed in almost one take. There was a bit of chat, then the theme tune played and for the next two hours the panel just chatted to each other, with a vague gameshow going on at the same time. The only break was when the camera tapes needed changing, but I got the feeling if that hadn't been the case, they'd have just kept going.
Once it finished, Stephen Fry had to re-record two links - perhaps a minute's worth of film altogether, and then it was done.
Tickets were arranged through http://www.applausestore.com if anyone would like to sign up for tickets in the future.
"It started out as Hogwarts, now it's Lord of the Flies" has to be my favourite line :-)
lupercal, I've just retaken the test to see where I stand on the political spectrum.Damn you - now I don't know where to vote later today!
Here's the test
I can think of many of you (
hekai especially) who will probably find that self-evident, but it's worth a read. It's a lovely definition of what the Internet actually is.Google Wave.
Google Wave is a new way of communicating; redrawing email, social networking, instant messaging, blogging and a whole heap of other features. After all, as they say in the introduction, email is 40 years old and predates the internet; it's based on the metaphor of snail mail and that hasn't really changed despite all of our experience of internet based communications.
The system is still in development; Google are opening the APIs up to developers because they want a whole raft of Wave based applications ready when they launch the service. Wave is open source, invented by the guys who wrote Google Maps - look at all the fantastic mashups that have been created because of their openness.
It's a 1h20m presentation and well worth watching - especially the first 40 minutes or so when they're showing off some of the possibilities of Wave - it starts going into the APIs after that, which is frankly a little bit over my head.
But this is exciting stuff.
http://www.takebackpower.org/
The Liberal Democrats are suggesting that we use the opportunity caused by the snouts in the trough (see LJ passim.) to fundamentally look at how we do politics in this country.
They're suggesting we, not local party committees, should have the right to de-select MPs. Don't like your MP? Sack him.
They're suggesting that we should have the right to an elected upper house, rather than current mish-mash of theocrats, nobles and cronies that are there at the moment. (And yes, I'm aware that sometimes recently said house has been very useful in slowing down the government. I think that says more about the current government than the House of Lords, to be honest.)
They're suggesting that we have fixed term Parliaments, so it's not at the whim of the current PM to decide when to call an election, allowing them to choose the time of best advantage.
They're suggesting a lot more.
I fully suppose that many of you will not agree with their suggestions.
But some of you will.
Have a look.
http://www.takebackpower.org/100_days_t
I don't have a car at present.
I don't really _need_ a car.
But I think this might be the first sign of my impending mid-life crisis. Luckily it's expressing itself through VW rather than Porsche, eh?
We're in the final throes of preparation for the Circus of Marvels End of the Pier Show on Monday 1st June.
We just wanted to let you all know that we'll be taking the pre-booked tickets offline at 6pm on Sunday evening - after that, you'll have to get your tickets on the door.
http://www.flay-deville.com if you want to grab a ticket for £10 before then.
We'll be closing our reserved ticket list at noon on Monday - if you'd like us to hold a ticket on the door for you up to 8.30pm, drop us an email to circus@flay-deville.com before the list closes.
Hope you're enjoying your bank holiday - see you next week.
Best wishes
Flay and DeVille
With two weeks to go until the End of the Pier Show, we would like to announce that we are opening our Reserved Tickets List.
If you would like us to hold a ticket for you on the door, you can mail circus@flay-deville.com, telling us your name, and how many tickets you would like us to hold.
You can pick your tickets up from the box office at Madame JoJos from 7pm on Monday 1st June. Please make sure you've claimed any Reserved Tickets by 8.30pm.
We'll open the doors at 8pm, and the show starts at 9pm. The acts go on until about 11pm and we'll have music and dancing until 1am.
Remember you can still buy tickets in advance for £10 from http://www.flay-deville.co
See you in a fortnight!
Flay and DeVille
"The Prime Minister has said it is not acceptable therefore it will not be accepted. It might be enforceable in a court of law but it's not acceptable in the court of public opinion, and that's where the Government steps in."
Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman, QC, MP, March 2009.
Tonic.
Paintbrush.
Decorating around midnight.
Surely this is a plan without flaws?
The worst thing about secret girlfriends is that when they get hit by cars you're not supposed to cry.
Finally, on the 2nd home front, he didn't buy somewhere, but he did rent a flat in Westminster for "a number of years" because of the unsocial hours that he had to work. That I find far less defensible. I wouldn't expect an MP to get the nightbus (in the same way that I would expect my work to pay for a taxi home if they made me stay after midnight on occasion) - but nor do I see why he should be allowed to spend £22k a year on a flat less than 15 miles from where he lives.
However, Mr. Gapes says that he stopped claiming for the flat in early 2008, and now has been commuting from Ilford daily for just over a year.
I'm a little bit mollified by that.
Not a lot.
That's Ilford. Zone 4. Outer London.
My travelcard, which gives 24 hour travel for a year, is £1400, give or take. I have to pay for that.
A taxi from Westminster to Ilford costs roughly £40 after midnight. Maybe £50
feistyredhead used to often have to get a cab home if she worked on an event that went on after the tubes finished. Her work paid for that. I don't have a problem with that.But do the maths.
Parliament doesn't sit late any more - deliberately to make it family friendly. Mike Gapes could have a travelcard, and get a taxi home twice a week, and it would cost £7,400.
Why is he allowed to claim £25,000 instead?
I've sent him the following message. I'm going to be interested in his response.
Dear Mr Gapes,
Given the scandal enveloping the Houses of Commons at the moment concerning MPs expenses, I was wondering if you'd care to comment on the fact that the BBC are alleging that you claimed £22,000 for a second home allowance in 2007 / 8?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8044207.stm
If their allegation is true, I'm assuming one of your two homes is in Ilford, where I live.
Ilford, which is in Zone 4.
Ilford, which is about an hour away from Westminster by public transport, and about the same by car.
Mr Gapes - how many of your constituents do you think work in the centre of London? And of those, how many would you estimate have the luxury of getting £22,000 per year to obtain and maintain a property closer to where they work in addition to a salary at least twice the national average?
Yours sincerely,
John Scott
And it should come as no surprise to those of you who have been following this somewhat sorry saga that Brian, the Saint of Customer Service, has just been on holiday "taking photographs of buses and coaches."
It's somewhat of a hobby of his.
I've just printed out the letter I'm going to be sending to the head of Customer Relations at npower, thanking them for Brian's efforts on my behalf.
You get 2Gb of storage for free and you can pay a monthly fee for 50Gb.
If you'd like to check it out you can see the website here. Or, if you use this link, both you and I get an extra 0.25Gb added to our accounts.
Lamb are playing a warmup gig in Brighton on Friday 22nd May at the Concorde 2, under the name Baby Sheep.
I'm now torn. It's the same night as Planet Angel.
The last time I saw Lamb play, myself,
lupercal and feistyredhead went on from the Brixton Academy to Planet Angel.The first time I saw Lamb play, myself and
westernind saw them at the Concorde 2 in Brighton.So - here's the dilemma.
Can I get from work to Brighton in time for the gig (answer: definitely yes) and then back to Planet Angel in sufficient time to make the most of the night (answer: much more stressful). (And I'm going to see them twice this summer anyway.)
I think I'm going to give this gig a miss; however, I strongly recommend it for anyone who's going to be in Brighton that evening.
Cthuugle - an HP Lovecraft search engine
Roll Up! Roll up! Flay & DeVille have returned to Madame Jojo's, the dusky, decadent heart of Soho.
On Monday, 1st June we're going to ask you to cast your mind back, gentle reader, to a simpler time! A care-free time of innocence treasured and lost, of candy-floss and bad teeth, of penny arcades and What The Butler Saw, of seaside towns and occasional children lost at sea. Of donkey rides, rolled-up trousers, ice creams, nubile sunbathers and the seedy men who'd watch them.
Yes that's right, folks! To celebrate the full bloom of the year, Messrs Flay & DeVille would like to take you back to those heady days of summer with an End Of The Pier extravaganza! Amongst our fruits de mer we've got saucy sailor girl Tallulah Mockingbird (ready to go down with all hands on deck), Kalki (the hula-hoop dancer with a dextrous, mellifluous body to die for), The Stupendous Crapini (Wizard! Sorcerer! Mage!), and Des O'Connor will by popular request be returning to the stage to transport you on wings of song. With the weather hotting up, it is even possible that Messrs Flay & DeVille will be tempted to strip off their dapper suits and burn away the pasty pallor of winter! Will they wear boxers? Speedos? Mankinis? You'll have to turn up to find out!
And finally, to wash you into the night with waves of delight, we have our resident turntable tsunami The Ingenue, who'll sweep you up with shanties, chansons and sultry siren songs from the 20s to the 50s, plus anything else that takes her wicked fancy.
So what are ya waiting for? Monday is the new Friday, the time is ripe, the liquor is flowing and even if it's raining outside, the sun always shines at the Circus Of Marvels!
Advanced Tickets are £10 from http://www.flay-deville.com
Tickets on the Door £12.
I'm massively amused by this story; so much so that I'm tempted to think it's actually fiction. Can anyone actually be so self absorbed that they think writing about the woes of having to fly commercial (but not coach) instead of using the company jet - not because they can't afford it, but because there may well be reporters at the private airfield - are going to garner the slightest bit of sympathy?
I know that the credit crunch will have an effect on everyone, and that the effect will depend on what level of economic well being you were at beforehand, but seriously? What did the author of the above piece think it would achieve?
What would you get if you analysed the connections between artists on Last.FM and drew them as a map?
This is the cloud view - click through for larger versions, annotated versions, and a zoomable / searchable map.
Each colour represents a different genre of music.
- Mood:awed
#4598 in the list of Reasons Why I Love The Internet.
- Mood:
amused - Music:Tainted Love
Much as I am amused by the current XKCD, I would just like to point out that I made that joke on this very Livejournal in 2003.
Thank you.
- Mood:smug
My Livejournal has just clocked over the 7 year mark, having been started on 8th April, 2002.
That's the entirety of my life in London documented, as I moved here in July of that year.
1318 entries (including this one) - some profound, some meaningful, some trivial. Some all three. (I can but hope).
There's a record of my writing here, and of a relationship from start to finish. There's the glory that was the New World Order.
There's highs, there's lows.
I don't think I've kept a diary in any other form for anywhere near as long.
Edit to add: And there's an awful lot of people I think I would have lost touch with if it hadn't been for LJ, especially after I stopped LRPing. And that would have been a very bad thing.
- Mood: contemplative
teatagg feel free to respond here rather than anywhere else.- Mood: annoyed
We start with Planet Angel. 60% new crew was an interesting experience. There was a reunion, you see; some of the original PA people wanted to celebrate 7 years of knowing each other through the club. So we cheered, and they had a great time, but when you realise that after 7 years many of them are really quite heavily involved with the running of the club on the night you understand that we were a little ... short staffed.
Sam sorted it; she got loads of enthusiastic party people to come along and work with us last night. And in many ways it was great - it's very easy to get cynical about running anything for a length of time, and new people coming in gave the crew a massive burst of enthusiasm. But those of us who needed to mentor them had to work all the harder to make sure they knew what they were doing, and didn't feel unsupported.
It worked. I always know when a club night is going to work because there will be one song that makes all my tension go away, and makes me laugh out loud. It usually happens about 3am, when we've closed the door, but it can happen in any room.
Last month it happened at 10.15pm to the sound of Mister Brightside. Last night it happened at 3.45am when one DJ put on, as his final track, a dance remix of Champagne Supernova.
It wasn't that which made me laugh and relax. It was the moment in the breakdown when, instead of some treble and very little bass - the moment that's in there to let you catch your breath and smile at the other people on the dancefloor - instead the chorus came through.
Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky
Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova
A champagne supernova in the sky
And then the DJ dropped all the sound from the decks and a room full of sweaty trance-heads sang along with gusto.
The party dispersed, and friends disappeared to various craic-ons, and I headed to Euston to travel up to see my folks for Easter. It's usually a 2 hour journey, and there's a train direct to Wolverhampton.
So when none of the boards were showing anything beyond Milton Keynes, I worried.
The nice ticket man explained; engineering works, of course, but he printed me out a schedule and a route that would get me to Telford.
In 4 hours and 20 minutes.
No.
You know those rare moments were you move properly? John Constantine calls it riding the synchronicity freeway. Let go. Move. Keep moving. Don't hit anything.
Drum and bass on my headphones. I moved.
I didn't hurry. I never broke into a run or a sweat. But I made every connection - none of them longer than 4 minutes. Moving properly shaved an hour off my journey time.
The problem is (there's always a problem) that I'm now wired on caffeine, breaks and drum and bass, and sleep is a long way away.
Homecoming though, and a final surprise. My parents have moved their bedroom from the room at the back to the one at the front of the house. So I was ushered upstairs to the room overlooking the garden. The room that was mine when I was 17 until I left home when I was 19, and that I haven't slept in since.
It has a view of trees and the sky, and the clouds are still against the blue. There's the faintest sound of water from the lakes a hundred feet away.
I can feel the tensions starting to let go ...
Enjoy your Easter, all.
- Mood:Relaxing
Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho, 1983
Partly because Cliff has had a UK number one in every decade since the 50's bar this one, and there's only this year to go.
Mostly because it's funny, and actually starts to make a mockery of the charts (and, incidentally, prove the power of the Long Tail).
So - if you've got 79p spare, why not get a Christmas song in the charts at Easter?
- Mood: amused
Not that they're ever going to read this blog, but they were wrong.
Footage obtained by the Guardian showing the police pushing the man in question over minutes before he died.
Ganked from
cavalorn.- Mood: indescribable
http://london.indymedia.org.uk/videos/99
British riot police in overenthusiastic response to protest shocker.
This was the Bishopsgate Climate Camp yesterday. A completely peaceful protest which caused inconvenience (of course; that's what protest does) but no damage.
So why did the police feel the need to form a shieldwall and push into the middle of a crowd?
One of my monitors is currently displaying my computer at home. Just because I can.
The connection isn't quite solid enough to stream video or audio over, but then I'm doing it using http://www.logmein.com, which is a completely free service. It's perfectly acceptable to edit text or run several other applications.
I don't care about jetpacks and food-pills. I'm living in the future right now.
- Mood:geeky
binidj - a man I'm proud to call a friend, and a gentleman in every sense of the word.Syndicate
